A new brand for an organization is inseparable from organizational identity. The aim of the research is to investigate the positioning strategy in terms of competitiveness and visitors of Kaunas District Public Library (KDPL). Research methodology: analysis of scientific literature and statistical data, staff survey, SWOT analysis. Main findings: the flow of visitors of KDPL in the period of 2018–2020 has decreased by a quarter, the user portrait consists of 5 user groups (employed, studying, pre-school children, unemployed persons and others), the number of library users by gender did not change, 70% consists of women, attendance of four user groups decreased or remained virtually unchanged, when the amount of employed users increased by about 16 percent. SWOT analysis has shown the absence of a brand positioning strategy. Qualitative study of the library competitors users’ needs and expectations can be analysed further. The local position of KDPL’s has shown the potential to grow up in Kaunas city. The originality of the paper covers individualized research on a brand positioning strategy of public sector organization, while the available research has been carried out on private branding. The current research will be useful for KDPL and other public organisations.

In recent years, industry development has become closely connected with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and trade openness. This research explores how industry, ICT, economic activity, and trade openness affect the environment, highlighting the importance of investing in low-carbon technologies and energy-efficient machinery. The goal of this research is to investigate the short- and long-run impacts of industrialization, ICT, economic activity, and trade openness on per capita carbon emissions in Lithuania from 2000 to 2024. This study employs the ARDL econometric model along with several diagnostic tests. The Breusch–Godfrey Serial Correlation test indicated no serial correlation, while the Breusch–Pagan–Godfrey test indicated no heteroscedasticity. The Ramsey RESET test confirmed that the model specification is appropriate and significant for the research. Additionally, the VIF test for multicollinearity indicates that no multicollinearity exists among the research variables. The research results show that industrialization and economic activity are positively associated with per capita carbon emissions and environmental harm. In contrast, trade openness and ICT are negatively associated with per capita carbon emissions in Lithuania, thereby contributing to environmental sustainability. The novelty of this research: a specific combination of variables combining key structural (industrialization), integration (trade openness), and digital diffusion (ICT penetration) determinants of CO₂ emissions within a specific single-country context, applying the ARDL framework for the Baltic EU member state, Lithuania. While prior studies primarily relied on multi-country panels and often treat ICT through heterogeneous proxies, this study operationalizes ICT as internet-user penetration to capture digital integration effects—an important distinction for small open economies where energy-intensive digital infrastructure may be located abroad. By separating short-run from long-run dynamics, the analysis offers evidence on how the environmental effects of openness, growth, and digitalization unfold over time, using recent data up to 2024 and providing policy recommendations encouraging decarbonization strategies.

The idea of this research is to combine the influence of personal brand with business needs. This article is a personal brand’s analysis on how personal brand influences consumer interest in products/services. An experiment is carried out on the content viewed by consumers using eye-tracking technology “Neuromarketing & AI LAB” to reveal emotional and structural sensations in the social network Instagram. The aim of this research is to determine the influence of a personal brand on the consumer. Research methodology: analysis of scientific literature, logical definition and theory construction, an experiment: research of human emotions and chosen content. Data analysis method: descriptive statistics and comparative analysis. AOI (heat map) was selected to illustrate the research results. Influencers with up to 100 000 followers were selected – stimuli that trigger or enhance physiological and psychological reactions in the body. It was found that the body and face of a personal brand had the higher influence on consumers. Personal brand attracts consumers’ attention and promotes engagement. The originality and value of the paper: content relevance research of personal brand (identity) influence on consumers in social network Instagram. Further we suggest carrying out similar personal brand’s research choosing other social networks.

Consuming fast food draws consumers’ attention to emerging issues related to such consumption. Namely, the consumption of fast food affects environmental sustainability, healthy living, and other sustainable activities. The main objective of this study is to explore how environmental awareness, healthy living, and sustainability-oriented fast-food stimuli may influence neurophysiological response patterns during food-related cognitive processing. Eighteen voluntary subjects, aged 19 to 53 years, who frequently consume fast food and have no physical or mental disorders, took part in the experiment. An experiment was conducted in which data were collected using Electroencephalography (EEG) and analyzed with WinEEG. The waves detected from brain activity signals were digitally converted to data using WinEEG. The resulting digital data was further analyzed using Detrended Fluctuation Analysis, Neural Networks (NN) algorithms, and K Nearest Neighbors (k-NN) algorithms. Herewith, the findings suggest that fast-food-related visuals associated with healthy living may elicit stronger patterns of cognitive engagement among participants. The findings provide exploratory insights into implicit cognitive engagement associated with healthy-living and sustainability-related fast-food stimuli. Additionally, the discussion helps in understanding sustainability-oriented food perception and consumer neuroscience research.

The complexity of consumer free-riding behavior is a current significant problem, as modern online purchasing channels sharply compete with the traditional ones. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of showrooming behavior by free-rider consumers on product valuation within a decentralized supply chain. Also, we examine how the consumers’ use of the benefits of the experience achieved in the offline channel to buy from the online channel influences their product valuation in a decentralized supply chain and influences the profits’ level of offline retailers. We develop an e-commerce model for product valuation when customers visit a brick-and-mortar unit for products and then buy them online. Results have indicated that the free-riding customers’ product valuation is between online and offline customer product valuations and the price at which the customer becomes a showrooming customer is influenced not only by the offline price, but also by the degree of the online channel acceptance and the shopping services value factor. This study has managerial consequences in decision-making of sellers, especially for traditional stores which to maximize the profit must optimize the offline additional services, to reduce the phenomenon of free-riding and at the same time not to generate additional costs.